Slideshow: Paris Auto Show Drives Electric

In a climate of economic austerity in which European car sales have declined over the past few years, the renewable and other emerging technologies on display during the recent 2012 Paris Motor Show offered a glimmer of hope.

The two-week event that ended on October 14 featured the latest in electric vehicle and hybrid technology. Automakers, like BMW, that have been slow to enter the hybrid and EV markets, showed off concept vehicles while others demonstrated the latest technologies for squeezing more miles and kilometers out of each gallon or liter of gas.

Click on the image below to see some of the cars on display at the show.

The BMW i8 Concept can run on electric power alone. The energy supplied by the application-designed battery (installed between the front and rear axles) to the electric motor at the front axle gives the BMW i8 Concept an all-electric driving range of about 20 miles. The battery can be fully recharged in two hours in a standard power socket.

Jerry, we're in agreement regarding your comment about the need for lower cost, lower tech, lighter EVs. If the cost is low enough, it would enable consumers to buy pure electric vehicles as second cars. Then we wouldn't have to worry about squeezing 300 miles out of the battery.

I just tested the rolling chassis of my new 2wh EV Streamliner which I was worried about as the CG was 60% lower than a normal MC but it handled excellently so I'm a go to complete it and it's body.

As it's light, lighter than the Kaw 750 suspension donor, and will me far more aero than any real road vehile I know of. Because of this it only needs a small battery pack and as weight equals costs it's not expensive to do and put into production.

I'll have it at Daytona Bike Week in March with another EcoMobile production aero cabin MC powered by a new BMW motor and suspension. for anyone there we will be hard to miss.

I'm afraid you are wrong again. Geothermal produces more radioactive polution than nukes or coal plants due to the leaching of radon and other radioactive materials from the earth. Coal always has thorium and uranium isotopes that are released into the atmosphere. Wind and hydro are the only "clean" alternatives at the moment. Nuclear isn't the monster you make it out to be. Most of the rad dose you get is from natural sources, only a small fraction is from human activities.

I'm affraid you are quite mistaken. A closed-loop or binary cycle geothermal system can be used to generate power. There is no venting of anything to the atmosphere with this type of system. As far as nuclear power is concerned, I'm only reporting the facts as reported by people who have actually been there and know what is happening. People who claim that nuclear power is clean are refusing to acknowledge the rather significant problems and only see what they want to see. Nuclear power is cheap and clean up to a point. Unfortunately, beyond that point it is neither. Dealing with the waste is expensive. Cleaning up leaks and spills is expensive and many times can never be totally cleaned up.

Nuclear power and the waste generated are not likely to go away any time soon, though. More than 70% of the spent nuclear fuel SNF and radioactive high-level waste R-HLW are produced by the US Navy and DOE. We expect to have around 104,000 tons of SNF in the US by 2035.

NiteOwl_OvO doesn't really speak about the other really big problem with nuclear: We can't figure out what to do with the radioactive waste, so we bury in giant caverns in the earth where it will remain lethal for a millenia. With a large number of nuclear plants we would be sequestering large amounts of radioactive waste underground. You want that stuff in your backyard? Or even in your country? There are far better and cleaner ways to get energy.

Ann--Great slide presentation. I certainly wish I could have been there to witness the event in person. Looks as though just about all manufacturers have an entry in the show. I do feel alternative solutions are needed for the "post-petroleum" era. It may be 200 or 300 years off but it's coming. Again--great post.

Lithium-ion battery prices will drop rapidly over the next 10 years, setting the stage for plug-in vehicles to reach 5%-10% of total automotive sales by the mid- to late-2020s, according to a new study.

Advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) are poised to become a $102 billion market by 2030, but just a sliver of that technology will be applied to cars that can be fully autonomous in all conditions, according to a new study.

Using a headset and a giant ultra-high definition display, Ford Motor Co. last week provided a glimpse of how virtual reality enabled its engineers to collaborate across continents on the design of its new GT supercar.

Focus on Fundamentals consists of 45-minute on-line classes that cover a host of technologies. You learn without leaving the comfort of your desk. All classes are taught by subject-matter experts and all are archived. So if you can't attend live, attend at your convenience.